Non-Laverda... any advice for buying a Commando?

1200ts said:
Commuting on an old bike is possible, but you will be spending every weekend doing maintenance. Back in the 1970's when I was young and poor I rode both to school and work on a 1961 Triumph Bonneville as I had not a car or other bike to use. I put 129,000 miles on it before I switched to a 1978 BMW R100RS which had 211,000 miles before I sold it. It too needed maintenance but only once a month.

The Triumph engine did not go this many miles without a few rebuilds. The BMW was never touched.

The last seven years I was commuting on a bike before I retired was on a 2008 BMW R1200RT. It currently has 154,000 miles and other than oil, tires and brakes nothing has been touched. Valves only needed adjustment three times.

If the weather was nice I would on occasion ride a Laverda the 90 miles round trip to work.
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My 91 ‘airhead’
Has 227K on original valves and rings, shows no signs of fatigue. 08 1200gs has 95K, no worries. Age has no consideration regarding engine dependability, it’s all about sound engineering and money spent on higher quality metallurgy.
 
There is one big problem with those BMW things. You need to burn them or chuck them in a canal and declare them stolen to get rid of them.
Best not to get one in the first place.

Paul
 
Paul Marx said:
There is one big problem with those BMW things. You need to burn them or chuck them in a canal and declare them stolen to get rid of them.
Best not to get one in the first place.

Paul
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You could actually try selling them. My K1200RS sold within an hour after putting it up, paid and picked up. The only way that works with a Laverda is if you offer a restored Electronica for four figures.
 
Laverda1000.de said:
You could actually try selling them. My K1200RS sold within an hour after putting it up, paid and picked up. The only way that works with a Laverda is if you offer a restored Electronica for four figures.
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I'm sure it would take me 18 months to sell the Electronica.
It's not restored now, I've done 15km with it.

Paul
 
The old "airhead" BMWs were incredibly well built. Laverdas never came close with any model. Sure, Laverdas maybe went quicker but they fell to bits. But put a Jota against a R90S with a street rider...and well...close call IMO!
 
Matt H said:
The old "airhead" BMWs were incredibly well built. Laverdas never came close with any model. Sure, Laverdas maybe went quicker but they fell to bits. But put a Jota against a R90S with a street rider...and well...close call IMO!
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Having owned a 74 R90S would have to disagree Matt,
Useless front brakes, a hydraulic brake that needed a cable to get to the master Cylinder :rolleyes: FFS, heavy clutch and all the power of a worn out washing machine.
My 74 3c shat all over it 🙂
Dont know what drugs the BMW designers were on but they were miles behind Laverda at that time.
IMHO
:) :)
 
T.C said:
Having owned a 74 R90S would have to disagree Matt,
Useless front brakes, a hydraulic brake that needed a cable to get to the master Cylinder :rolleyes: FFS, heavy clutch and all the power of a worn out washing machine.
My 74 3c shat all over it 🙂
Dont know what drugs the BMW designers were on but they were miles behind Laverda at that time.
IMHO
:) :)
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Ha ha. Having worked on a few Beemers of that period, I absolutely agree. I could list a bunch of other idiotic design features, but that cable to hydraulic front brake is one of the all time dumbest fuck-ups ever to appear on a motorcycle. I figured out pretty quickly that they were horrible things, not worth the high prices they were asking. They're boring bloody things to ride as well. As with Harley Davidsons, I've never worked out why people fork out good money to own one.
 
Matt H said:
The old "airhead" BMWs were incredibly well built. Laverdas never came close with any model. Sure, Laverdas maybe went quicker but they fell to bits. But put a Jota against a R90S with a street rider...and well...close call IMO!
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What is a Jota?

Paul
 
Matt H said:
The old "airhead" BMWs were incredibly well built. Laverdas never came close with any model. Sure, Laverdas maybe went quicker but they fell to bits. But put a Jota against a R90S with a street rider...and well...close call IMO!
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I worked on both back in the day for distributors. At that time there were 3CL, not Jota, in Australia anyway, and the reliability, and warranty claims of both marques were both very low. It was virtually unheard of to get Laverdas "falling apart". The 3CL was a much faster sportier bike than the BMW, and both bikes could traverse Australia at high speed with no problems. As for street riders, it is/was always the individual who took the most risks who was in front.
 
T.C said:
Having owned a 74 R90S would have to disagree Matt,
Useless front brakes, a hydraulic brake that needed a cable to get to the master Cylinder :rolleyes: FFS, heavy clutch and all the power of a worn out washing machine.
My 74 3c shat all over it 🙂
Dont know what drugs the BMW designers were on but they were miles behind Laverda at that time.
IMHO
:) :)
Click to expand...
Have to agree with that Tom, I borrowed George's R90S once upon a time, it was a horrible soggy mess with a rotten gearchange, my 3C could eat it alive. It was comfortable though.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: T.C
In the 1970s, BMW placed comfort very high on their priority list. The R90S was planned to become kind of a game changer, but she inherited the basic suspension layout, the inconsequent design of the double disc brake operation has already been mentioned. This long travel suspension layout was very sensitive when wear came into play, e.g. with high mileage those bikes became quite shaky ...

With a tighter fork and more suitable struts, plus an appropriate braking system, the essential key points are addressed, to transfer those ol' Beemers in acceptable driving machines.

51694972773_3454d3073a_b.jpg


Even the sheep in the center seems to be thinking about it ...
:ROFLMAO:


Cheers,
Jo
 
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I spent 10 years commuting to work in Singapore where it's always too hot and too humid. First a 400cc Honda big scooter thing with an automatic gearbox, a V-Strom 1000 then a 865cc Bonneville T100. The most comfortable riding experience was the big scooter (no excuse for having mechanical gearboxes these days except nostalgia), the V-Strom was dangerously fast (the way I rode it) but fun, and the Bonnie was pure Mr Sensible. I'd buy each again to be honest.
 
I'm growing quite fond of my BMW R100RT winter bike. For 3 main reasons.
1) Who gives a damn if the road-salt eats it.
2) The 'saggy-tits' cylinders keep your feet warm. Love that.
3) Grandchildren can us the tank as a trampoline and you don't care about the dents.

jakey on bmw rt (1).jpg
Oh yeah, and the front brake can never overcome the friction available between tyre and greasy road. Anti-lock brakes :-)
 
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